Nethril Campaign Log

[Zyraen]

6.1 Walk in the Dark
04-Sep-14 (Thursday)
The Heroes changed their minds about the Arena and ventured to the Dark side of Fang, all except the Half-Orc and the Human Warlock dressed in cloaks and hoods to make their race less obvious. Near the entrance to the Light side, they saw a Drow slave merchant having her male goon torture an eladrin slave to try and goad some "Light"-siders into doing something they would regret or to extort their gold, but the Heroes wisely decided to stay out of it and the two would-be customers managed to contain their upset and quickly return back to the Light side. Apart from that, the main cobbled road of the Dark side seemed pretty orderly, with majority of the populace being either orcs, half-orcs, yuan-ti, drow, with some tieflings and fewer warforges.

The Heroes came to the Black Den inn, themed after a bear's den, with stone overlays on the structure to make it look more like a den, and plenty of fur and dark wood around. After entering, they asked the owner - who turned out to be a burly human barbarian of Fang - about Eldaris, and for them purchasing a bottle of good strong drink each, he agreed to deliver a message to Eldaris, about emissaries sent by Zethran. A party of 7 drow - 2 female and 5 males - approached the Heroes shortly and one of them identified himself as Eldaris. Two of the Heroes agreed to follow Eldaris and four others to a nearby private booth in the inn to discuss matters, and Eldaris seemed impressed at what Zethran had found out. He mentioned he had been regularly supplying orcs - with what goods, he did not mention - but of late they have been slow to commit and trying to haggle down the price. He requested the Heroes to cause a disturbance in a more orc-dense part of Fang to disquiet them and remind them that they are vulnerable, perhaps it would give them more urgency. He gave them directions to a specific shop there as well, to smash the glass of the shop but not anything more in the shop, and certainly not hurt the orcs within.

The Heroes agreed and visited the place very late in the evening as most of the stalls were closing. They managed to enter the shop as potential customers, with the Gnome deciding to purchase some poisons, the Half-Orc asking about weapons and the Tiefling fiddling with firebombs. They then left and waited until all the stalls and shops had closed, and sent two of them to the outskirts of the square joining to the main curved road of the Dark side to watch for Fang patrols, while the artful skilful gnome undid the wards on Baedron's shop door and then managed to disable the arcane trap on the safe with amazing alacrity. The contents of the safe was a sizeable amount, and they checked the goods register to find that key suppliers were Eldaris and one Susshura, with the latter's volume steadily increasing of late to replace the former. Among other things, Eldaris supplied what was called "vats", while Susshura supplied "ballistae", there were also entries of warhammers, axes, plate, shields supplied by one Asgrim. As they were sleuthing, the two lookouts spotted a Fang patrol and sent the signal, so they retreated to the back as the patrols came by into the square. An inquisitive - or very sharp - wolf detected something fishy with the shop, but they laid low and managed to avoid detection. Once the patrol had gone, they got out of the shop, spread out to smash some unattended roadside stalls, torch two of the adjacent shops and smash the glass of Baedron's place, all at the same time. Sure enough, this set off alarms, but they had preplanned a route back to the other side of town, and fortunately the nearest patrol was not in the way. While fleeing, they were gradually losing the guards but the wolves were rapidly gaining on them, fortunately the gnome once more saved the day by using Prestidigation - without ever slowing his run - to create such a convincing pepper smell the wolves stopped to snarl and howl in pain, allowing all of them to escape pursuit.

They returned back to Eldaris and the next day, who was pleased with the ruckus caused and had another task for them. He mentioned some of the native Fang had sent their men to clear a part of the forest, but it had become haunted and progress was impossible. He suggested bringing a Vat in a cart that he would provide, entering the forest and pouring it there to demonstrate its efficacy. When the Heroes asked for a reward, he mentioned he could reward them with gold or introduce them to the clan chieftain who had requested for this to be done, to which they preferred the latter. Thinking back, the Heroes recalled that there was a druid called Arewyn who had ventured to the north part of the forest which would be to the south of Fang, and suggested to Eldaris not to use the vat first, while they tried to resolve the haunting their own way so the people of Fang could carry on their work.

The Heroes then visited the forest and shortly found themselves vaguely disoriented and gradually fatigued by strange and subtle magic permeating the area. Schaft called out for Arewyn, and the party was bemused to find him conversing with a squirrel, for only he could hear the squirrel, then later an owl, talking back to him. While Arewyn seemed largely unafraid of the human depredations, she did seem reasonable and open to a resolution that would not involve harm to the forest and might even result in the humans protecting it. The Heroes secured from her an agreement to bring representatives of Fang here to try and broker a mutually workable solution that did not involve violence, nor the use of the strange concoction within the vat of the dark elves.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 2.5 / X XP 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Human Warlock / Shaman (Andy) : 2 / X XP 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 1.5 / X XP 6
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - "Schaft", Human Warlock (Qabir) : 3.5 / 4 XP 5
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Half-Elf Cleric (Merlvyn) : 2.5 / 4 XP 5
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 2.5 / 4 XP 5
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 2 / 4 XP 5
AFK / L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Mystic Tim, Human Wizard (Shaun Ong) : 2 / 4 XP 5
AFK / L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Malezer, Tiefling Paladin / Warlock (Wei Ming) : 1 / 4 XP 5
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - New Char XP : 0.5 / 4 XP 5

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
Those Present: +290 Gp each ( 300 Gp loot from Baedron's Shop, -10 for Black Den Drinks )

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.

[Zyraen]

6.2 New Frontiers
11-Sep-14 (Thursday)

While returning back from the forest to Fang, the party came across a party of adventurers outside Fang, comprising of a Dragonborn, a Dwarf, a Half-Elf, an Elf, an Eladrin and a Halfling. They seemed to want to enter the Dark side of Fang but were hesitant. The Heroes spoke to their leader Arshan the Dragonborn and reassured them the Dark side was safer than it seemed, and also gave them directions to the Black Den Inn that they were looking for. A short while later, as expected, the Heroes met them in the Black Den Inn, and though the other group of adventurers were nervously out of place with the number of orcs, yuan-ti and drow in the inn, they soon relaxed when the Heroes joined them. One of the Heroes, Osherr took the Halfling called Geren aside for a drink to try and ferret information about why they were here, while Vorrash challenged the dwarf Grimnar to a drinking contest backed by a wager. The dwarf might have come up ahead except for the artful intervention of Osherr's invisible familiar, which resulted in a close match up between them both. Grimnar was delighted with Vorrash's drinking capacity and accidentally spilled the beans that they were here to locate one Eldaris, with at least two drow onlookers taking note. The Heroes persuaded the other adventuring party to find lodgings in the light side instead of here, and they took their leave soon enough.

Eldaris would appear with his usual entourage some time later, hearing about the update on the haunted forest and enquiring after the other group of adventurers. At the Heroes' request, he sent for the clansmen in charge of the project for clearing the forest, and the Heroes managed to squeeze a reward out from the superviser Jarnden, before accompanying him and one other Fang barbarian to the forest. After a brief tension, Arewyn seemed agreeable to the arrangement, and Jarnden would deliver the good news back to his clan.

This time, after collecting the reward, the Heroes asked Arewyn what other tasks she might have for them. She informed them that one of her allies in the South had been slain by a band of goblins in a vale a few days to the South (see 5.3), and asked the Heroes to wipe out the goblins. When the Heroes asked how she learnt of this, she said she had been informed by the sisters of her fallen ally, giving their location matching the hags' swamp abode (see 4.1). The Heroes decided not to be drawn into conflict with their former allies, and declined the mission, claiming that they preferred somewhere closer. Arewyn informed them that there might be passages in the mountainous and hilly areas north of Fang where drow were coming to the surface, where they might hunt drow and possibly direct other races to these areas. She also directed them to a dwarf outpost east of Fang, where they had commenced excavating a new mine, only to be foiled by a few basilisks that had their abode there.

The Heroes decided to help the dwarves with the basilisks and ventured over. It would not be long before they found the last dig area the dwarves had opened up, along with statues of some unfortunates. There their tactical positioning allowed them to defeat three fearsome basilisks with only occasional close shaves, and they were soon rewarded appropriately for their heroism by the grateful dwarves.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Human Warlock / Shaman (Andy) : 3 / X XP 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 2.5 / X XP 6
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Half-Elf Cleric (Merlvyn) : 3.5 / 4 XP 5
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 3.5 / 4 XP 5
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 1.5 / 4 XP 5
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 3 / X XP 6
AFK / L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - "Schaft", Human Warlock (Qabir) : 4 / 4 XP 5
AFK / L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Mystic Tim, Human Wizard (Shaun Ong) : 2.5 / 4 XP 5
AFK / L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 2.5 / 4 XP 5
AFK / L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Malezer, Tiefling Paladin / Warlock (Wei Ming) : 1.5 / 4 XP 5
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - New Char XP : 1 / 4 XP 5

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
Those Present: +500 Gp each ( 400 Gp loot from Jarnden, 100 Gp from Dwarves )

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.

[Zyraen]

6.3 Getting Around
18-Sep-14 (Thursday)

The Heroes considered visiting the dwarf city of Konozod, from which the dwarves of the mining outpost had been sent, and which was the western city of the dwarf kingdom of Moralund. However, they decided to meet Eldaris and collect their reward, only to find the main room of the Black Den in a state of upheaval, for an enemy party had attacked Eldaris in that place, killing two of his entourage. The enemy party comprised of a half-orc, an orc, a drow, a yuan-ti, a warforged and a tiefling, and consequently Eldaris was preparing to leave Fang. However he offered a reward to the Heroes for killing his would-be assassins, stating that if they successfully completed their task, they could claim their reward from Jarnden while he was away. They also reported their success to Zethran via the Sending Stone, who asked them to locate a contact from the Yuan-Ti and make discreet diplomatic overtures of goodwill from Zethran to their representative.

The Heroes also reminded Eldaris to set up a meeting with the clan Chieftain that he knew, and he directed Jarnden and another Fang warrior to bring them to the Inner City of Fang to meet the leader of the Sureclaw clan. The scene beyond the high wall and tunnel between the trading part of the city was quite unlikely - mostly comprised of tent-like and hut-like structures dotted most of the space, separated into various clusters, with only uncobbled paths joining them. They were brought to a large seven-point tent - with supporting beams of steel - where the clan Chief Lucan awaited them on his rather uncomfortable-looking "throne" of carved stone.

The Heroes were thanked by Lucan for their assistance with the "haunted" forest, and also learned of the Sureclaw clan having some influence among most of the lodgings in the Dark side of Fang, before being informed of another possible task. Lucan requested them to deal with or at least whittle down the "marauding barbarians" that the patrols from Fang were often faced with while protecting the north lower ranges of the highlands, where the forested slopes gradually gave way to plains. When the Heroes questioned further, the enemy were described as mounted archers and armored cavalry that matched the description of knights. While the Heroes considered the task and made their way out of the Inner City, Qilue stopped to heal a child of Fang that had been seriously injured during a fight, to the relief of the overseer, who noted down how to contact them through Jarnden at the Black Den.

The Heroes then managed to recall that the xenophobic nation of Talestria lay to the north of the continent, with outsiders primarily only visiting their north port city of Anari for trading. Fang lay to the Southwest of Talestria, while to the immediate South were the mountain range of the dwarven kingdom of Moralund. The east part of Talestria was desert, part of which also came under the control of Yuan-Ti, who also occupied the swamps and archipelago to the East. To the south of the Yuan-Ti controlled area was the city of Yanis that secured northern border of Nethril, and which had some trade with the eastern dwarf city of Thodoron.

The Heroes then returned back to the Light side of the city and asked around for information about Talestria, learning that they traded, among other things, in plate, lances, shields and bows. They also found their old friends - the party comprised of a dragonborn, a halfling, a dwarf, an eladrin, an elf and a half-elf (see 6.2) - in the Daring Wolf inn, where they finally learned they had been sent to kill Eldaris and were seeking the heroes' help in locating him after having learnt he had left the Black Den. The heroes learn that they might also be employed by an Elf, and decided not to get involved with killing the drow merchant.

After weighing their options, seeing that they had little to lose by making themselves more well known, the Heroes decided to test their mettle in the arena. They found themselves ranged against none other than the party they had just met. Qilue held up the elf ranger, while Fabio was in turn held up by the half-elf. Osherr made short work of Geren the halfling, and Arshan the dragonborn quickly fell foul of his warlock/shaman opponent, Schaft had a reasonably close fight against the Eladrin, before Vorrash finally recovered from a string of ill fortune that nearly cost him the match to beat down Grimnar the dwarf and secure the first round prize money of 50 Gp for the Heroes. The prize for the second round would be 200 Gp per participant, and for the last round 600 Gp per participant. In the aftermath they watched their possible later competitors use their various powers against their opponents, while considering if they had enough resources left for the next 2 rounds.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Human Warlock / Shaman (Andy) : 4 / X XP 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 3.5 / X XP 6
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 1 / X XP 6
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Half-Elf Cleric (Merlvyn) : 0.5 / X XP 6
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 0.5 / X XP 6
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 2.5 / 4 XP 5
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 3.5 / X XP 6
AFK / L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 3 / 4 XP 5
AFK / L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - Malezer, Tiefling Paladin / Warlock (Wei Ming) : 2 / 4 XP 5
L1 L3 L4 L5 Item - New Char XP : 1.5 / 4 XP 5

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
+400 Gp to Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) and Schaft (for Quest in 6.1)
Those Present: +50 Gp each ( First Round of Arena completed )

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.

[Zyraen]

6.4 We Are The Champions
25-Sep-14 (Thursday)

Noticing some participants were experiencing fatigue, in the interests of a more gripping finale, the arena organizers gave the Heroes the choice to face the prepared beasts first instead of the opposing team. The Heroes debated and decided to face the beasts first, while using a ritual to help revitalize those more weary members of the group.

The Heroes found themselves faced with three sets of enemies that were randomly released into the ring one round after another - first flame snakes, then minotaurs, and lastly shambling mounds. Thanks to good teamwork, especially Vorrash the fearless berserker and Qilue the cleric's healing and willingness to save devoured allies, the Heroes pulled through in relative good shape.

In the final round, the Heroes faced off against another band of adventurers. Osherr was faced with a Half-Orc Rogue, Fabio with a Drow Warlock/Bard, Qilue against a Tiefling Elementalist, Dale against a Warforged Warlock/Artificer, and Vorrash against an Orc Fighter. Despite initially tense moments, Osherr beat his opponent first, followed by Fabio, even as Qilue fell to Elemental Bolts, and Dale sealed the win narrowly. The crowd roared with delight as the Heroes were announced as the new Champions of the Arena and awarded the full Prize Money.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 7
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Dale P Ganger, Human Warlock / Swordmage (Andy) : 1.5 / X XP 7
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 1 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Half-Elf Cleric (Merlvyn) : 3 / 4 XP 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 3 / 4 XP 6
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 1.5 / 4 XP 6
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 0.5 / X XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 3 / 4 XP 6
Level Up! AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 1 / 4 XP 6
Level Up! AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Malezer, Tiefling Paladin / Warlock (Wei Ming) : 0 / 4 XP 6
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - New Char XP : 0 / 4 XP 6

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
Those Present: +790 Gp each ( 2nd & 3rd Round of Arena completed for 200 Gp and 600 Gp respectively, -10 Gp for Ritual )

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.

XP Bonuses
Lv5 Chars & New Char gains 0.5 + 2 & Auto Level Up
Lv6 Chars gain 0.5-1 + 1.5
Lv7 Chars gain 0.5-1 + 0.5

[Zyraen]

7.1 Farewell to Fang
30-Sep-14 (Tuesday)

The Heroes basked in the glory of their victory, their time of rest comforted by arena attendants of various races. For his all but unscathed status throughout all 3 matches, Osherr was awarded the King of the Ring award with a golden belt, which he restyled to be engraved Lord of the Ring. In the aftermath, the Heroes were granted an audience with the Grand Chieftain of Fang, head of the leading Skarnska clan, which they accepted.

The Heroes were invited into an open courtyard surrounded by walls that separated the inner and outer city areas of Fang. The bearded Grand Chieftain Rhygar, who sported an elaborate prosthetic left forearm and hand (similar to those seen in 4.4), greeted them from atop the guarded walls. After a very pleasant exchange with the Heroes, Rhygar removed the false beard and moustache that the Heroes pointed out, to reveal a relatively young man of about 30 years old, clean shaven and with a lean musculature. To aid the perpetuation of Fang as a cosmopolitan trading centre, he asked the Heroes to remove a key person in Talestria that was behind hostilies with Fang - General Torgrim, who resided in the capital Anari. He suggested traveling by sea to the city - he could arrange for passage - and use a fine sapphire ring of silver and gold to gain access to Garwen, his Eladrin contact in Anari who was also a royal adviser in Talestria. When the Heroes asked Rhygar about any influential Yuan Ti they had been asked by Zethran to contact (see 6.3), he suggested they look for Susshura, a Yuan Ti merchant in the Dark side of Fang. After the meeting, one of his advisers also sought out Qilue, thanking her for saving his child (see 6.3) and giving her some Silver Incense.

The Heroes asked around and found their way to the White Snake, a four storey high inn themed like a white tower with a giant snake coiled around outside, and which was popular with Yuan Ti, Tieflings, and Warforged. After purchasing fare, the innkeeper was pleased to direct them to Susshura, whose party stood up in respect for the Champions of the Arena. Susshura noted that she could discreetly supply Zethran from Fang, but if she understood Zethran's intention of eventual peace, others nearer the border of Nethril and the Yuan Ti homeland of Kaharadiss might be more appropriate. She provided the Heroes the names of Ashradith, a Yuan Ti military quartermaster, and Madasri, one of his contacts who was a Yuan Ti merchant plying routes from Talestria to Kaharadiss. The Heroes chose to report progress to Zethran, but excluded the two names so they could claim full credit for brokering any resulting agreement.

On the way out from the Dark side, Qilue went to the drow slaver and purchased the eladrin slave who was earlier tormented (see 6.1), before bringing her over to the Light side. A crowd of elves and eladrin quickly gathered at the sight of a drow with a clearly ill treated eladrin, and it looked like things would turn ugly but Qilue called out to find the rescued girl's cousin called Kherenor. Soon things had quietened down, with Qilue turning down compensation for the rescue. The Heroes learnt from the eladrin that she and her patrol had been captured by a drow raiding party along the north edge of the Elven forest. The eladrin reported to an elf captain called Merodius, and they noted that drow activity had increased along the northern forest fringe not too far from Fang.

While considering their options, the Heroes also received an urgent Sending from Zimvit the goblin (see 2.2, 3.1, 5.2) that his people in the vale had come under attack, but the Heroes decided not to travel back down South. The Heroes decided to travel to Anari via the sea, and after their arrival in Mildew, found their passage had been provided for on a familiar merchant ship - the White Horn, led by none other than the genial, if somewhat roguish Captain Raelorn (see 4.4). During the journey, Raelorn suggested engaging some enemy ships for pickings, and the Heroes preferred that they target orc galleys. This time, due to lack of surprise, enemy cannons and a slew of lucky shots, the two Heroes had to duck below deck to try and reduce the number of orcs able to engage them, while the Cleric laid down an area of consecrated ground and the Assassin/Rogue harried the orcs from above deck. Eventually they defeated the orcs, but were greatly wearied by the drawn-out engagement.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Human Assassin/Rogue (Andy) : 2.5 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 2 / X XP 7
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Cleric (Merlvyn) : 0 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 2.5 / 4 XP 6
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 1 / X XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 3.5 / 4 XP 6
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 3.5 / 4 XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 1.5 / 4 XP 6
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Malezer, Tiefling Paladin / Warlock (Wei Ming) : 0.5 / 4 XP 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - New Char XP : 0.5 / 4 XP 6

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
-165 Gp for purchase of Slave and Drinks (Qilue)
Those Present: +140 Gp each (+160 from Orcs, -10 Gp for Inn Fare, -10 Gp for Comrades Succor Ritual )

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

[Zyraen]

7.2 Harness the Sea
09-Oct-14 (Thursday)

After the run-in with the Orcs, Captain Raelorn suggested since he had capable persons on board, perhaps they could go harvest some elementals at an island not too far off course. He had two magical boxes that could divide up water elementals, and the rest would simply have their magical essences extracted for use.

As they neared the island shrouded by a foggy seas, they realized it seemed larger than it had appeared. Those trained in Arcana tried to make sense of the magical energies that distorted their perception of the island, and found the area had an abnormally high concentration of elemental energy, with many elementals about, perhaps due to being near access to another plane. When they questioned Raelorn, he said the Water Elementals were encountered along the south and east sides of the island, Air Elementals encountered along the north and west sides of the island, and further inland, amidst the rocky, rather sparsely vegetated terrain would be the Earth Elementals. Raelorn gussed there might be Fire Elementals somewhere within as well, but he had not ventured far enough to have met one yet. When they asked how he found safe passage here, he revealed in the past a Wizard leading a party of adventurers guided him to his island, and since then he occasionally takes intrepid collectors to the place, and buys their pickings from them. One of the Heroes asked him if he might follow to assist, to which he agreed, albeit in return for a fair share of the goods.

As the Captain recommended, the Heroes made landfall in the south and travelled north along the beach. After Osherr sensed a higher concentration of elemental energy in one area, he sent his imp ahead to bait the attack, drawing two water elementals from the sea. One of them rampaged forward to blast the heroes with his chill spray, even as two others hurled watery bolts at them, taking down Qilue before she could act. Fortunately, Vorrash managed to get her back up on her feet and it was a uphill battle to bloody the first water elemental, only to find it splitting into two smaller ones. There was limited room to manuever without entering the sea, and combined with bad luck, the Heroes considered simply collecting two elementals - one for each box Raelorn had - then fleeing. However, Osherr was in an exposed position and so they ground their teeth and dug in, eventually defeating all the elementals. In the aftermath, Raelorn captured two of them into the magical boxes, each of which split into 27 charged elemental cubes, and extracted essences from the rest, paying gold to the Heroes for their efforts.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Human Assassin/Rogue (Andy) : 3.5 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Cleric (Merlvyn) : 1.0 / X XP 7
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 0.5 / X XP 7
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 0.5 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 3.5 / 4 XP 6
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 2.5 / X XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 1.5 / X XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 2 / 4 XP 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - New Char XP : 1 / 4 XP 6

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
Those Present: 9 Water Elemental Cubes each (Raelorn offers 25 Gp per cube, -10 Gp per cube you wish to keep)
Those Present: +80 Gp each ( for essences extracted)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

[Zyraen]

7.3 Underworld Passage
16-Oct-14 (Thursday)

The Heroes sold to Captain Raelorn the water elemental cubes that they would part with, then the ship carried on its way to Anari. On arrival, they found the trading area to be a bay with a long beach and rows of stalls - without roofs - set up along the beach, all the way to the city walls. The only shelter was provided from the city walls in form of some canvas, and the whole place seems to be set up so crossbowmen atop the walls can easily fire on trouble makers. A few footmen patrolled the place, though not many.

The Heroes asked Raelorn for advice before he went off to procure more "manpower", and he referred them to a contact of his called Visaj, that seemed to be a secretive underworld figure of some sort. When they asked where they might most likely chance by him, he directed them to the section of the beach-bazaar area that was selling slaves. While Osherr was busy talking to a halfling slaver about a Tiefling slave, Fabio got pickpocketed but the culprit was spotted by Osherr's invisible airborne imp. The Heroes managed to corner the culprit and make him return the money, and Osherr passed him 10 Gp to pass on a message to Visaj. Later, while they put up at the "inn" of sorts around there called the Watering Hole, they were approached by the halfling slaver from earlier, who offered to bring them to meet Visaj, but only after dark.

They followed him into a underground passage near the foot of the city walls, and entered a seemingly unused section of the sewer. He arranged for them to wait in a room before leaving, but they "persuaded" him to stay with them, which made him very nervous. The chamber sealed shut and they found themselves speaking through a hole in the wall to "Visaj", who at least seemed to recognize his referrer. Visaj considered offering them a potential "pick up and delivery" job, but decided to collect 50 Gp entry fee from them first to see how they fare. They also asked him about an Eladrin in the city, which Visaj noted was certainly not Garwen (see 7.1). After Osherr paid Visaj 50 gp to glean his knowledge, Visaj divulged that Garwayen was an Eladrin adviser who came some decades ago and apart from advising the king, also dealt with rituals and scrying as required by the crown. Garwayen keeps a decent enough house with a garden just outside the city central area within which lies the palace and home of other nobles. He also clarified that Garwen was not a mispronounced shortform of Garwayen, but rather a separate name. At the Heroes' request, Visaj instructed Jireh the Halfling take them to put up at an "inn" of sorts called the Stables, and help them with disguises to blend into the local populace, before letting them leave.

While travelling the sewers, the Heroes encountered some Otyughs and spider swarms. They put paid to them quite swiftly, but not before the Swordmage/Warlock and Osherr contracted Lesser Filth Fever. To aid their malady, after they entered Anari proper, the Heroes obtained the ritual for Cure Disease and used it to cleanse their suffering allies. The halfling Jireh had Qilue wear a hood with a cloth to cover her face, but Osherr had to make do with some facial skin coloring and facial hair to cover up his outlandish skin color.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 4.5 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 3.5 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Cleric (Merlvyn) : 2.0 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 1.5 / X XP 7
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 0.5 / X XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 2.0 / X XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 1.0 / X XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 2.5 / 4 XP 6
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - New Char XP : 1.5 / 4 XP 6

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
Osherr : 95 Gp (kept 2 WE Cubes, sold 7, -10 Gp to Pickpocket, -50 Gp for info on "Garwen")
Qilue : -55 Gp (kept 8 WE Cubes, sold 1)
Schaft : 15 Gp (kept 6 WE Cubes, sold 3)
Swordmage/Warlock: 85 Gp (kept 4 WE Cubes, sold 5)
Vorrash : -90 Gp (kept 9 WE Cubes)
Everyone: -180 Gp (-50 Gp to enter Anari, -130 Gp for Cure Disease Ritual with 2 Castings)
Those Present: 130 Gp (Loot from Otyugh & Spider Swarms)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

[Zyraen]

7.4 Cell Group Meeting
21-Oct-14 (Tuesday)

Osherr considered that womenfolk often wore veils, and chose to disguise as a female while in the city. As the Heroes moved around in Anari, they noticed that there were practically no weapons available, and there was a mysterious but guarded tower that rose well over the height of the city walls. Oddly enough, no one - not even the Heroes themselves - seemed to notice it until they "stumbled" on it, and when they moved a certain distance from it, it was as if it was no longer there. They backtracked to a library building to learn more about the hstory of Anari, although the librarian discouraged females from entering, and the disguised Fabio entered on his own to gather information.

They discovered the Talestria today was once two separate city-states with their own territories. One city was Anari, with mainly agricultural land, and another was Casiorn in the mineral rich desert area. After some conflict, the royal families agreed that the gender of their first child would determine if there was to be peace or not, and which family would submit to the other. As the Gods would have it, the first child of the family in Casiorn was male, and that of the family in Anari was female, so they wedded and became one royal family. The union of the two city states event was about 150 years ago, with no notable mention of any Eladrin advisers - nor any non-humans, in fact - and since then, the ascendant Casiorn royal family had relocated to Anari, where the weather was somewhat more comfortable, although learning from the past "mistake" of the Anari royals, the current regime was reluctant to be too conversational with outsiders. They also discovered there were not one but four towers located in the various quarters of Anari, predating the merger with Casiorn, where legends say if danger threatened the city, the four towers could be activated to protect the city, though the nature of this protection was noticeably vague.

The Heroes decided to carry on to Garwayen's home, and saw the city centre, which seemed to be surrounded by shining silvery walls, and Osherr's imp caught glimpse that it seemed to be divided into 9 major sections, although the centre estate section seemed noticeably bigger. Outside the walls was a large artificial moat or water passage of some sort, with 4 bridges providing passage to the guarded gates of the 4 walls of the city centre, as if it were a city within a city.

When they reached Garwayen's home, the Heroes passed a note written in elven to Garwayen to seek an audience. In due time they were escorted into the elegant main meeting hall then told by the guards to lay down their weapons and be placed into cells in the basement. The leader - a cleric - seemed noticeably unhappy about the instruction to bring the Heroes into the room and then tell them they were under arrest, which seemed dishonorable to him. When the Heroes refused to cooperate, a fight broke out, but the Heroes managed to knock out the cleric before he or his warlord ally had the chance to kill him, and Vorrash threatened to kill him if the other guards would not lay down their arms. After letting him recover his senses, the Heroes emphasized they were not here meaning ill, only seeking an audience with Garwayen, and asked the cleric to relay the message. Osherr sent his invisible imp after the cleric, spying a secret passage that the cleric used to reach a study of his eladrin master. Garwayen told him, since the Heroes were capable, they could keep their weapons, but he wanted the Heroes to get into the cell, before he would meet them. The Heroes reluctantly agreed to enter the cells, but they took the cleric and his fellow leader, a warlord, as "hostages" into the cell, which proved rather cramped.

In time, Garwayen arrived in person, coming alone into the basement. He asked the Heroes to knock out his men and stabilize them, before he would speak, which the Heroes agreed and the two men, loyal to their master, did not resist. Once that was done, the Heroes mentioned Rhygar sent them to "Garwen", showing him the ring that Rhygar had given them. Garwayen noted that was how the barbarian Wrothgar, who was Rhygar's father, had addressed him, and referred to "little Rhygar" as idealistic and altruistic. Regardless, he had guessed the Heroes' arrival was to deal with General Torgrim, and hence had wanted for them to be in his cells and seem to be his prisoners. He advised that the Heroes eliminate Torgrim and make him disappear or seem kidnapped, then thanks to Torgrim's popularity, his son Helios would take over his position, and Garwayen had enough influence over him to help steer things the right way. When questioned about the the four towers, Garwayen skirted the question and did say it would not affect the Heroes.

Garwayen then opened the cell to collect his two unconscious assistants, noting to the Heroes that they would be served dinner in a few hours, and they could break out of their cell then. The best way to escape that did not involve going back into the city was via the second floor of the house, through windows facing the back the building and hence the moat surrounding the city centre. There they could lose pursuit, although if they entered the water their disguises - notably their skin coloring - would be largely ruined. To get to Torgrim, Garwayen briefed them which one of the sectioned buildings within the city centre was Torgrim's home, and that apart from guards, he had two stone golems. Both golems could be bypassed by obtaining two specific wardstones - one for each golem - from within the estate, though they could not be turned against Torgrim since he controlled them with a masterstone. One wardstone was in an underground vault, and another in Helios' chambers. After he had gone, the Heroes debated his motives and what to do next.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 8
Level Up! L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 2 / X XP 8
Level Up! L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 1 / X XP 8
Level Up! L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Cleric (Merlvyn) : 0 / X XP 8
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 3.5 / X XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 3 / 4 XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 4 / 4 XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 3.5 / 4 XP 7
Level Up! AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 1.5 / 4 XP 7
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - New Char XP : 0.5 / 4 XP 7

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

XP Bonuses
Lv6 Chars & New Char gains 0.5 + 2 & Auto Level Up
Lv7 Chars gain 0.5-1 + 1.5
Lv8 Chars gain 0.5-1 + 0.5

[Zyraen]

8.1 Mission Possible
30-Oct-14 (Thursday)

With the guards already disheartened by the defeat of their leaders, the Heroes managed to escape with little opposition into the narrow path along the moat. After seeing no easy way to enter the city centre where Torgrim stayed, they returned back to the Stables to seek Jireh's help. After he had heard their intention to enter Torgrim's abode, Jireh reminded them of the earlier task offered by Visaj, noting it was to recover a gold gilded seal from Torgrim's abode. They were to then place it into a mouth of a tiger head, mounted in the main hall of the residence to the South of the general's abode. He then collected an advance - in case the Heroes could not fulfill his request - and arranged for them to be sneaked into the centre city riding inside food supply wagons, about 4 am in the early morning. After arrival under the somewhat shining walls, one of the drivers struck up conversation with a guard, allowing them to slip out into the main area and check out the home of their target.

The general's residence was three storeys high, and had two walls of its first floor flush against the inner corner of the inner wall, and each higher floor was smaller than the others. The Heroes managed to sneak into the second floor without being noticed, and headed down to the first floor where they came across various trophies on the wall, including drow weapons, wolf heads and a fine double bladed axe with the name Wrothgar etched on it. They also found records of drow and barbarian activities from the south/ southwest near Fang. After a search, they located the basement where they found a vault - or rather four vaults. After disarming the traps, they managed to open the two genuine vaults, retrieving a wardstone, a magical item and a scroll that seemed to be indecipherable. Then they headed to the second floor, where one of the Heroes distracting the general's son at the window, before the rest rushed him from behind via the door and knocked him out before he could raise the alarm, allowing them to take his wardstone.

With both wardstones in hand, the Heroes went to the third floor, where two stone golems standing watch did not respond to their intrusion at all. Thus they managed to assassinate the sleeping general, without him even so much as crying out in pain, and left a bloodied drow blade from the trophy hall as the murder weapon. They also saw the Seal Visaj had asked them to retrieve, but chose not to take it, though one of the heroes took the masterstone that controlled the golems. However, they were spotted by guards while trying to move from the roof onto the central city walls, and leaped into the moat while taking shots from the crossbow men. The Hero with the golem's masterstone directed them to rampage out of the general's residence, causing a great uproar. Despite taking quite a few shots from the guards and a female warrior of some sort, the Heroes managed to get out of the moat by climbing onto the bridge, the water removing most of their disguises and revealing one as a drow. Where normally guards would have rushed out to pursue them, the gate was blocked by the two stone golems, and the heroes managed to escape into the city before most of the inhabitants had stirred.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 8
L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 3 / X XP 8
L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Cleric (Merlvyn) : 1 / X XP 8
Level Up! L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 0.5 / X XP 8
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Dragonborn Paladin/Warlord (Alphonsus) : 1.5 / 4 XP 7
AFK / L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 1.5 / X XP 8
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 4.5 / 4 XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 4 / 4 XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 3.5 / 4 XP 7
AFK / L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 2 / 4 XP 7
L3 L4 L5 L6 Item - New Char XP : 1 / 4 XP 7

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
Level 9 Item (retrieved from Vault. To be assigned out by the players present)
Those Present: 150 Gp (200 Gp from Torgrim's Home, -60 Gp to Jireh to enter City)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

[Zyraen]

8.2 Casiorn
04-Nov-14 (Tuesday)

The Heroes headed unopposed and, thanks to the golems, largely unpursued into the city in the early hours of the morning, and decided to leave via the sewers, using the Light cantrip on Osherr's invisible imp to guide the way. They had barely lost sight of the sewer entrance when the multiple voices of Visaj were heard, contemplating turning them in, but the Heroes persuaded him/them otherwise. Regardless, as they were discussing a very sizeable band of guards entered the sewers with their torches, and Visaj immediately became silent. The Heroes wisely chose to follow suit, and the guards could only see the light from the imp, which the Heroes used to lead them away, while they crept down the other side, before ending the Light suddenly, leaving the guards lost and left the way clear for them.

Deeper into the sewers, they encountered and fought 2 otyughs and 2 carrion crawlers, but quickly put paid to them and emerged into the "trading" area. The place was crawling with guards, but the party's prepared disguise was so excellent that they were unrecognizable. They were briefly contacted by a somewhat upset seeming Garwayen via Sending, but it seemed more of a test of their interests, and the conversation ended as abruptly as it began. Working through Jireh again - who did not recognize them either - the Heroes bought passage out, and instead of going southwest to Mildew and back to Fang, they chose to take a swift caravel east to Casiorn, in search of Madasri, the yuan-ti contact that Sushurra had informed to them of (see 7.1).

The view of the coast line turned from plains to wilderness to desert, and they arrived in Casiorn, the other key city-state that combined with Anari, formed the current kingdom of Talestria. It seemed to have seen better days, with somewhat worn down walls facing the sea, and the wharves were only for small ships, unlike those in Mildew. There was an area of the harbor where an exceedingly large number of small derelict ships were kept anchored or bound to each other to keep from floating away, placed for unknown reasons. Within the city itself, the residence and abodes seemed more in number than reflected by the persons on the streets, and unlike Anari, in addition to humans, there were a few dwarves and warforged and yuan-ti about. The Heroes soon found they congregated in inns based on two major activities - mining and trading, with the dwarves and warforged almost exclusively in the former, and yuan-ti almost exclusively in the latter.

The Heroes decided to look around to see what job needed to be done, and got themselves hired to literally put down a group of rebellious mine workers that refused to work, and after bargaining, were looking at a handsome 300 Gp per Hero. They arrived at the mine and proceeded to deal with the opposition they met, including using their powrs to push many of their belligerent enemies into a deep pit, and those who survived the fall were quickly ended by the shots from above. Likely more of them awaited the Heroes in the depths of the mining caverns.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 9
Level Up! L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 2 / X XP 9
Level Up! L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 0.5 / X XP 9
Level Up! L5 L6 L8 L9 - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 0 / X XP 9
Level Up! L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Cleric (Merlvyn) : 0 / X XP 9
Level Up! L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 0 / X XP 9
Level Up! L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 1 / 2 XP 8

Level Up! AFK / L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 1 / 2 XP 8
Level Up! AFK / L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Human Wizard (Jabez) : 0.5 / 2 XP 8
Level Up! AFK / L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Dragonborn Paladin/Warlord (Alphonsus) : 0 / 2 XP 8
Level Up! AFK / L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 0 / 2 XP 8
Level Up! L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - New Char XP : 0 / 2 XP 8

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
Unreadable Scroll (retrieved from Vault in 8.1)
Level 9 Item (retrieved from Vault in 8.1. To be assigned out by the players present then)
Those Present: 80 Gp (95 Gp from sewers, -30 Gp to Jireh for passage to Casiorn, 25 Gp from miners)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

XP Bonuses
Lv7 Chars & New Char gains Auto Level Up
Lv8 Chars gain 0.5-1 + 0.5

[Zyraen]

9.1 Digging Deep
13-Nov-14 (Thursday)

The Heroes put paid to the rest of the miners holed up in the place, and on their way out they noticed that the bodies of those that they had sent careening into the pit had vanished, leaving only disturbed and rough sand. Investigating with the imp then a body for bait, they soon realized there was at least 1 land shark, also known as bulettes, in the deeps of the mine. Schaft wisely suggested that instead of attacking them, they could inform the one who sent them to clear the mine to secure a reward before dealing with the creatures, and with some inspired bargaining on the heroes' part, the promised reward was 480 Gp per bulette slain (120 Gp per hero).

They then returned to the mine and despite some unexpected surprise by another bulette, they managed to destroy both beasts with relative ease, especially thanks to Vorrash devastating the first bulette to attack the party with not one but two consecutive deadly hits. One of the more intrepid heroes then wanted to explore the tunnels that the bulettes had left behind, and Vorrash secured a rope to explore it. After some deep delving, they uncovered a small opening in the depths of the bulette tunnels, that led to a huge cavern with 3 tunnels leading away from it, lit dimly by various fungi. Osherr's imp managed to fly down and notice a ward over one of the tunnels, and looked over the other two. One of the others had some old, long mouldered away bodies but with a few pitted and gashed short suits of armor not too far from the entrance, and the other path sloped downwards further into the depths. Osherr's invisible imp managed to get up close to the Eye of Alarm, and disarm it with relative impunity, before the Heroes lowered themselves down from on high and proceeded into the warded tunnel. As the cave became narrower and more like a constructed tunnel, they avoided some pressure plates, followed by a winding carved staircase to one side that led down, leading to an elaborately carved and warded door. Despite the high level of warding, with some cooperation and a reasonable amount of luck, they managed to undo the wards. A terse discussion followed about the wisdom of carrying on with opening the door, before they decided to let the imp do the task.

Beyond the door was a large library with book shelves, and in the middle was a huge elevated stone table, and a similarly elevated chair, albeit human sized, upon which sat a hooded figure clad in dusty brown robes, damascened with gold threads. When the person spoke in Supernal and then asked the Heroes to come and meet him, they obliged, presenting themselves at the door way to the library. They soon realized although the place was under the cavern they had come from, its ceiling was too high, and it was more of a pocket dimension, and there were some markings that seemed related to Pelor. After some conversation explaining why they were here and asking about Pelor, they learnt that their apparently elven host Ceoria was in fact a mithral dragon who used to worship Pelor.

She openly acknowledged that Pelor was gone, and sought information about the Lady who had taken his position, as well as any other information that might come into the hands of the Heroes about the destruction of Pelor. She also reveals that her duty calls her to protect this place against the incursion of the drow, and if the heroes could destroy two drow settlements nearby - the city of Velsharran and the outpost of Kalnezzar - then she would be more free to act on her own. Although not hostile nor openly seeking treasure beyond knowledge, she seemed bitter and cynical about the prospect of holiness and good, while making snark remarks about the Heroes' capabilities along the way.

The Heroes also take the opportunity to ask her about some of the ongoings above ground that she seemed rather well-informed on, probably from the books collected in her library. They learn that the four towers in Anari summon some sort of arcane weapon that is capable of sending destructive energies against a certain direction, presumably at an invading force. They also learn the majority of drow activity on the surface seems to originate from the lands around Fang, basically the territory of Rhygar's barbarians, and that Rhygar had inherited his leadership from his father. Schaft also gave Ceoria his Sending Stone and asked about it and the Geas, learning that it was from a "councillor" of Nethril, and the Geas could be ended simply by returning the Sending Stone, which the giver could not refuse to accept back. He also learnt that while the Geas may cause him to act on a trigger, and may change the trigger and action from time to time, this did not grant the user access to his mind or senses. They learnt that the empire of Nethril once rapidly expanded out from the single capital city of Nethril to its current size, but in recent decades stopped to consolidate, and Ceoria believes they are embarking on a magical project that could grant them almost certain dominion over the continent. To this end, she questioned the Heroes on their mission of peace for Nethril, noting it would give the ruling council of Nethril more opportunity to advance their project, but observing that perhaps their rule would not be a bad thing. As thanks, Osherr offered Ceoria a Water Elemental Cube for her use, to which she was amused and offered instead to help the Heroes put them to good use. She could help them to prepare the Cubes to summon Lesser Water Elementals at 3 Cubes each, or Water Elementals at 5 Cubes each, but if so, the cubes could only be used when their objectives coincided with her own.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Warlock (Merlvyn) : 1 / X XP 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 1 / X XP 9
Level Up! L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 0 / X XP 9
Level Up! L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 0 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 2.5 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 1 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 0.5 / X XP 9
L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - New Char XP : 0 / 2 XP 8

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
Unreadable Scroll (retrieved from Vault in 8.1)
Level 9 Item (retrieved from Vault in 8.1. To be assigned out by the players present then)
Those Present: 325 Gp (300 Gp for clearing the mines, 25 Gp from miners)
Fabio, Human Swordmage Warlock, Tiefling Elementalist: 300 Gp (300 Gp for clearing the mines, despite AFK)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

[Zyraen]

9.2 Off the Beaten Track
20-Nov-14 (Thursday)

The Heroes requested Ceoria to decipher the enchantment around the scroll they had retrieved from Torgrim's safe (see 8.1), and found out that the document was a will of some sorts by the general to his son. The general states that they, the family of Anari, had been swindled out of their birthright, for the firstborn of the Casiorn family was not a male, but a female, which was hidden from them. Torgrim had confronted the previous king of Talestria, who was aware and seemed genuinely contrite but explained they had little choice save to find a way to leave Casiorn. As a token of his sincerity, the previous king elevated Torgrim to be the general of the military, and promised that when all was resolved he would abdicate in favour of Torgrim's family - however he was assassinated by drow before that could happen.

The current king knows none of this, but may still have some ties to Casiorn, such that he would not take it lightly if the city were to fall. Since in a few decades those ties the new king has might no longer be existent, so the letter suggests that Helios act swiftly to let this come to pass, and regain his birthright when the current the king leaves Anari for Casiorn. Most of the rest of the document covers military concerns faced by the kingdom of Talestria, counselling caution when dealing with the barbarians of Fang as well as the deadly strikes of the drow from that area. About Casiorn and dealing with the yuan-ti, the will suggests advocates night fighting by surprise, and states that "Casiorn must not be fortified."

The Heroes spoke more at length with Ceoria, before suggesting that she clear the way of the tunnels that the dwarves had opened up, in the hopes of mustering their strength against the drow. She agreed with some reservations, noting that if the drow should push towards the area her minions would collapse the tunnel once more. Before that though, they asked for a dimensional passage back to Casiorn, which Ceoria reluctantly provided, depositing them near the city and also about 40' above the soft desert dunes, much to their chagrin.

The Heroes returned back into Casiorn and after collecting their reward for defeating the bulettes, and located the yuan-ti called Madasri (see 7.1) at a somewhat more affluent seeming tavern. He initially seemed unmoved, even amused by the audacity of the Heroes in asking him to bring them to see Ashradith near the southern border of Yuan-Ti territory close to Nethril, but his attitude changed somewhat when Osherr telepathically challenged him. He offered a price of 100 Gp per person to bring them to Ashradith, even as the Heroes considered what they might have to offer the Yuan-Ti that would bring about peace. While debating, they also checked out the nature and packaging of Madasri's goods, so they could disguise as him later on if necessary.

As the Heroes contacted Zethran through Schaft's Sending Stone and tried to find grounds for parley with Yuan-ti, and an ace recollection about Yuan-Ti, coupled with the clues given about Casiorn revealed that the Yuan-ti, being coldblooded, had great difficulty being combat effective in the extreme cold of the desert nights. This meant that though they might otherwise take Casiorn, they would have difficulty holding out against invaders, leaving them little choice but to focus their efforts southward towards Nethril. The Heroes checked with Zethran's representative about the possibility of solutions as bargaining chips, but after ending the discussion, decided rather than invite a full scale invasion of Talestria, they would return instead to the caverns below the mines and hopefully eventually parley with the dwarves against the drow.

They returned to the mines and found Ceoria's earth elemental servants waiting for them. When they finally reached the collapsed section of the dwarven tunnels, the two elementals seemed to absorb the rubble and earth, growing larger and more distended, before a passageway was sufficiently - and only just sufficiently - cleared. After they had passed through, the two elementals stonemelded into the tunnels and debris, practically unseen guardians.

They proceeded on and some flickering torch lights ahead suddenly split off into lesser fire elementals and fire archons, who were shortly joined by a flaming, exploding fiery birdlike creature, a Phoera. It was a dangerous battle amidst charred bodies of others that had trespassed this way, and even with four incredible blows from Vorrash as well as the others, the Heroes found themselves weary after the last of their fiery foes were reduced to ashes and cinders.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 3.5 / X XP 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 1 / X XP 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 1 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Warlock (Merlvyn) : 1.5 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 1.5 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 1.5 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 1 / X XP 9
L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - New Char XP : 0.5 / 2 XP 8

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
Unreadable Scroll (retrieved from Vault in 8.1)
Level 9 Item (retrieved from Vault in 8.1. To be assigned out by the players present then)
Osherr, Schaft, Qilue, Vorrash: 240 Gp (for defeating 2 Bulettes earlier on)
Those Present: 230 Gp (loot found on the charred bodies of dwarves near elementals)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

[Zyraen]

9.3 Journey Down Under
02-Dec-14 (Tuesday)

The Heroes examined the remnants of dwarves that had run afoul of the Fire elementals and discerned the livery of a hammer within a circle. Proceeding along the passageway, it was a good while before they noticed slits and hollowed passages in the wall. Osherr managed to get his imp in and scouted forward to find a few dwarves on lookout, wearing the same livery as the bodies they found earlier. The Heroes declared they came in peace to return the bodies' remnants for proper burial and were welcomed into the fairly modest underground town of Shukonod.

They were directed to a tavern fpr rest and Vorrash decided to find an audience to have a drinking contest with. He managed to hold out long enough to make an impression, although he gave out shortly after. Osherr had a tense exchange with a bemused dwarf lord wearing umber hulk plate, and the Heroes decided it was best to move on from the town shortly after. Though they sought directions to Konozod, where they had earlier aided some dwarves in eliminating basilisks (see 6.2, 6.3), they only received directions to the surface. Once they left Shukonod though, they struck out underground as their senses guided them, in search of Konozod.

Along the way they managed to spot gargoyles and two warforged with some sort of lightning charged weapons in wait for them. They managed to take the lead, but then suffered a few nasty surprises from their foes, and eventually emerged battered but triumphant.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 4.5 / X XP 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Fabio, Eladrin Slayer (Raphael) : 2.5 / X XP 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 2 / X XP 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 2 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Warlock (Merlvyn) : 2 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 2 / X XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 1.5 / X XP 9
L4 L5 L6 L8 Item - New Char XP : 1 / 2 XP 8

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
Unreadable Scroll (retrieved from Vault in 8.1)
Level 9 Item (retrieved from Vault in 8.1. To be assigned out by the players present then)
Those Present: 170 Gp (loot found on the warforged)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

[Zyraen]

9.4 At the End of Each Tunnel
09-Dec-14 (Tuesday)

After salvaging what they could from their fallen foes, the Heroes carried on their lightless trek in the subterranean world, led by little more than their gut. Eventually they came upon a broader section of the underground and chanced across a small dwarf merchant wagon. Osherr approached to ask for directions and learned this was near the dwarven capital of Moragund in the heart of the underground. The wagon was heading to Thodoron in the east, opposite from Konozod, so the Heroes declined the lift offered, and were given the suggestion to buy a slave from Moragund, as well as watch for warforged raiders/bandits that have been plaguing the kingdom.

The Heroes determined there was a reasonably safe place to rest nearby and went in search of trouble, defeating two warforged and accompanying air elementals that seemed rigged to explode into bursts of lightning. They spared a warforged for interrogation and learned that they came from a guarded complex deeper underground, with an estimated force of about 40 strong of which about 10 plus were regularly in defence. Their leader was a white dragonborn and they seemed to have the means to create more warforged and magical elemental creatures every day, although most were sent out to trouble the caverns. The Heroes decided to spare the warforged to be their guide, and after suitably "disguising" him to appear less like the raiders, they headed to Moragund to rest.

The huge city was set in a colossal cavern and appeared mostly fused into four huge columns of stone running with their bases served as the bastions for relatively puny walls, and most of the columns actually had dwellings and other places hacked into them, with stone bridges linking them to the other columns and other lesser columns, that may run from below or hang from above. Dwarven activity seemed to carry on both outside, above and below a city that probably looked wondrous to most non-dwarves.

Even though welcomed as "probably old friends" of the dwarves given where they were and their knowledge of Moragund, there were precious little tasks that the dwarves would look to outsiders. They did however find a dwarf Thane offering a fine bounty for the destruction of the dragonborn Andaelus, and could even provide directions. Probing further, they learned the dragonborn's base was actually "holy ground" to the dwarves, the tomb of the Grand Thane Beornaf, former ruler of the kingdom and revered hero of the dwarves, and since the occupants did not seem to actively defile or destroy the Tomb, the dwarves were ill disposed to do battle upon it. Osherr managed to recall, with the aid of tomes read from Ceoria's library, that almost 200 years ago, when fringe dwarf cities of today were but military outposts, there was once a blue dragon called Andaelus, that stirred in the deeps and troubled the dwarves of Moragund. Their Grand Thane Beornaf and a ruling elf councillor called Krasius from Nethril ventured together into the dragon's lair and defeated it, but Beornaf was slain. The dwarves raised a fine tomb and accompanying mausoleum to Beornaf, in the elaborate manner of their kind, possibly because they had difficulty moving his body. As for Krasius, he returned back to Nethril and is a key leader today in that empire. About 60 years ago, warforged and various summoned elementals appeared to plague the dwarves' kingdom once more. Sensing something not quite right, the heroes questioned their warforged captive, who said the dragonborn was white, not blue, but he had only saw him from a distance. While mulling over the matter, the Heroes managed to piece together that the Andaelus today might be the defeated Andaelus of the past, returned not as a blue dragon, but a dracolich in the form of a skeletal dragonborn.

Taking stock of the situation, the Heroes decided to give the rich bounty a miss and carry on to Konozod. While their captive seemed to help them dodge warforged patrols, they were attacked by 3 fast moving lightning elementals in relatively cramped tunnels, but despite poor luck, their artful manuevering helped them destroy their foes with relatively little harm. Thereafter they carried on to reach Konozod with little incident.

Characters (Players) - Party Level 10
Level Up! L6 L8 L9 L10 Item - Fabio, Human Hunter (Raphael) : 0 / X XP 10
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 3.5 / 4 XP 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 3.5 / 4 XP 9
L5 L6 L8 L9 - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 3 / 4 XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 5.5 / 4 XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Warlock (Merlvyn) : 3 / 4 XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 3 / 4 XP 9
Level Up! AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - New Char XP : 0 / 4 XP 9

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
Scroll with Torgrim's Will (retrieved from Vault in 8.1)
Level 9 Item (retrieved from Vault in 8.1. To be assigned out by the players present then)
Those Present: 330 Gp (loot)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.

XP Bonuses
Lv8 Chars & New Char gains Auto Level Up
Lv9 Chars gain 0.5-1 + 0.5

[Zyraen]

10.1 Return to Fang
16-Dec-14 (Tuesday)

The Heroes reached Konozod and heard practically no trace of their heroics involving the basilisks (see 6.2). They then located the rescued miners, who were grateful and directed them to their seemingly inebriated lord, Thane Grognar. Grognar managed to make sense of their request for men, and pointed out that Shukonod was itself a few days travel northeast, followed by a few more from there, and even so, the mustered dwarves would likely be targeted by warforged marauders before reaching Shukonod. He was also doubtful about the need for a guardian against drow, and noted that the drow had practically no presence within the dwarf kingdom of Moralund, though they did haunt the north elven forest areas near the territory of Fang. He seemed impressed by their spoils from the defeated warforged they had met, and at the Heroes' request, provided them a written letter with his seal, noting their record against the basilisks and warforged, and advocating that the reader support them with regard to worthy causes.

Satisfied with Grognar's favour, the Heroes took a wagon to Fang, and found themselves waylaid by drow at the forests near Fang. Spider swarms surged out from the foilage, while from within the trees drow warriors attacked with poisoned bolts and a priestess of Lolth called upon bursts of ensnaring webs. Vorrash's monstrous opening strikes helped earn a respite that allowed the rest to quickly eliminate the spider swarms, but they soon saw the priestess' call caused the scattered spiders to regroup, and focused their efforts on her. This forced her to retreat away through the forest, borne by yet more spiders that helped her cross the difficult terrain with ease, although her 3 warriors were not so fortunate and were captured. The Heroes learnt that the drow came from the underground near Fang, nowhere near Velsharran and Kalnezzar (see 9.1). They then proceeded to Fang, selling the drow as slaves to the highest bidders - a band of bloodthirsty elves that seemed bent on inflicting tortures that would probably make the average drow look tame.

They then proceeded to meet Rhygar, the Grand Chieftain of Fang (see 7.1), who welcomed them as honored guests and threw a banquet for them, while asking in Elvish for them to watch out for his hidden guards, so they could improve on their abilities. Getting down to business, Rhygar had already heard of their success in eliminating Torgrim (see 8.1), and although his apparent assassination by drow had the Talestrians mustering their forces to strike south towards Fang territory where the drow came, he seemed confident to drive them back. The Heroes also showed him Torgrim's will, which he read with great interest and sought their agreement to send to Talestria, as a peace overture to show that he had dealt with the assassins best he could. After some haggling, they also settled on a generous party reward - a Level 7 Item for every Hero.

The Heroes then asked him to muster his men against the drow, and on hearing details Rhygar agreed in principle, but observed his men would be far from their best deep beneath the earth, and that the dwarves would most certainly not agree to a large armed force of humans entering their territory. In line with his earlier stance, Rhygar advocated tolerance, and that even a race as unpredictable and selfish as drow had their place in the world. He compared the Heroes' assassination of Torgrim to what drow were good at, in ensuring that the warmongers and despots were removed before their ambition would lead to the suffering and misery of countless thousands, both that of their foes and their own people. He also asked the Heroes what if the separate kingdoms were united under the rule of a single group, a council, so that wars would no longer be necessary, and the Heroes seemed slightly in favour of the idea. They finally asked for other employment nearby, to which he told them of late parts of the forest had the very life drained from them, so the elves might have employment. Apart from that, he was sure there were more opportunities to be had in Zethran.

Meantime, the Heroes received a Sending from Lady Schumann (see 4.3, 5.1), who thanked them for bringing about a temporary ceasefire with the Yuan-ti near the northern Nethril city of Yanis, where her daughter was. She hoped the negotiations would be a prelude to a lasting peace. The Heroes might realise this was linked to an arrangement they walked away from previously (see 9.2)

Characters (Players) - Party Level 10
L6 L8 L9 L10 Item - Fabio, Human Hunter (Raphael) : 1 / X XP 10
Level Up! L6 L8 L9 L10 Item - Osherr Zebulon, Deva Warlock (Windson) : 0.5 / X XP 10
Level Up! L6 L8 L9 L10 Item - Vorrash Winterhowl, Half-Orc Berserker (Weijia) : 0.5 / X XP 10
Level Up! L6 L8 L9 L10 Item - Tiefling Elementalist (Shaun Kam) : 0 / X XP 10
L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Grisby, Gnome Wizard (David Gregson) : 1 / 4 XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Dale P Ganger, Human Swordmage/Warlock (Andy) : 6 / 4 XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Qilue Veladorn, Drow Warlock (Merlvyn) : 3.5 / 4 XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - Schaft, Human Warlock (Qabir) : 3.5 / 4 XP 9
AFK / L5 L6 L8 L9 Item - New Char XP : 0.5 / 4 XP 9

Loot
(Below is Carried Forward from previous, except for Gold & Group Items)
7 Healing Potions, worth 70 Gp each
10 Special Healing Potions, worth 80 Gp each
7 Antidote Potions, worth 100 Gp each
1 Silver Incense (Qilue), worth 200 Gp
All Players: Lv 7 Item (reward from Rhygar)
All Players except Osherr: -10 Gp (entrance fee to Fang)
Those Present: 330 Gp (150 loot from drow, 180 Gp for sale of 3 drow)

NOTES
Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 HP.
Special Healing Potion: you can spend a surge to regain surge + 1d6 + 5THP. After you drink it, until End of your Next Turn, you cannot use any Encounter and Daily powers.
Antidote Potion: when you drink it, all drow poison effects end and if being poisoned requires you to make an Endurance check against contracting a disease at the end of the encounter, you automatically pass that check. You can also spend a surge to regain surge value HP.
Silver Incense: Consumed as a minor action. Until ENT, your healing powers heal the max possible Hitpoints.